


Pink Diamond

by ailixandrite2dot0 (AILiSeki)



Series: Crystal Authority/Diamond Rebellion AU [6]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Crystal Authority AU, Diamond Rebellion AU, Gen, Roleswap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:01:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25008115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AILiSeki/pseuds/ailixandrite2dot0
Summary: The secret is out.
Relationships: Steven Universe & White Diamond
Series: Crystal Authority/Diamond Rebellion AU [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1676866
Comments: 1
Kudos: 23





	Pink Diamond

**Author's Note:**

> This is a direct sequel to “The Lonely Leader”. Please read it first if you haven’t already done so.

The three Diamonds could only blink in shock at the gem standing in front of them. She was silent, waiting for the questions that were sure to come.

“Is this some sort of joke?” White Diamond asked. It didn’t sound as accusatory as she intended. The truth was, she was afraid. All of them were.

That day was already strange enough without being in front of the most mysterious member of the Crystal Authority (at least for them) and watching her shape-shift into an unfamiliar form.

“No. This is my true form.” She answered, voice even.

That didn’t necessarily mean anything, White thought. Rose Quartz was a natural gem. There was no rule for what natural gems looked like, no rules even for what their gems looked like.

Still, this form left much more of her gem’s surface exposed, and like this it looked much less like what it was supposed to be.

“You’re… not an actual Quartz, are you?” Blue asked, careful.

“No.” The gem in front of them said, still sounding calm, still waiting for them to process what they were seeing and ask the questions themselves.

“What are you?”

“I am a Diamond, like you.” She made a long pause. “I know I have a lot to explain-”

“This is impossible. You are lying!” White said.

“I am not. You can check for yourself.” The pink gem stood straighter, the gem on her navel catching more light.

None of the three Diamonds dared to approach her.

White didn’t want to believe her, but something about seeing her Radiance in that form stimulated some primal instinct, one she didn’t even know she had. A quick look at Blue and Yellow showed her they seemed to be having a similar experience.

“Very few gems know about this. I have been living this lie for a long time.”

For a moment, White could see the pain in the other gem’s eyes, but soon it was covered by her calm mask. White really didn’t like how easily she seemed to hide her emotions.

Blue’s expression softened. “Why?”

“Gems have been trying to decide what others can or can’t do based on their type since the first of us emerged from the ground millennia ago. The kingdom of Plasma was no different. We were surrounded by enemies, in the middle of the war, but they wouldn’t let just anyone join our army. After many tries, I found out I could hold a shape-shifted form for a long time, so I made myself more like the soldiers they wanted.” She explained.

“But you weren’t just a soldier. You were a general.” Yellow argued.

“I had to start somewhere. We all had.” She sighed. “Old gems like me didn’t come to existence with a pre-defined role. We had to work to take one.”

White frowned. “So you lied. You kept lying when you were promoted, and you kept lying when you formed the Crystal Authority.”

Blue and Yellow gave her wide-eyed looks for her accusatory tone, but White didn’t care. She didn’t care if she was to be shattered for her disrespect. She was feeling betrayed. Rose Quartz had been the only gem who saw any worth in her when Pearl didn’t want her due to her defect. It was because of her that Pearl kept White. The truth about her felt like a personal offense.

“I had to. I had no choice.”

“Why not? You proved yourself. Everyone knows what you can do. After everything you have done, what did you have to lose?” White’s voice got louder at each word. She felt her face heating up, her pink was probably showing, becoming more intense. Pink. She was pink, like _her_.

The pink gem stared at her, frowning. “I couldn’t- you don’t know-”

“What? How _hard_ everything is for you?” White took a few steps, standing now in front of her friends, looking at the pink gem in defiance. She wasn’t sure of what she planned to do. It must have been a ridiculous scene, a defective doll trying to look intimidating, but she couldn’t care. She was so angry. “Every fabricated gem is made in the image of their natural counterpart. Unless they don’t have one, like us - except we do, she was just hiding this whole time. We were supposed to be like you, warriors, leaders. But you hid, and what are we instead?”

“I never meant for this to happen!” The pink gem shouted. Her eyes were teary. “None of this. I tried to do everything I could… this is not the unified planet I dreamed and fought for. No one hates what Homeworld has become more than I do.”

White ignored her tears. “I seriously doubt it.” She said coldly.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Blue. The two exchanged a meaningful look.

There were times when Blue had been able to identify a traitor in her Clarity’s court. She had a certain sensibility that allowed her to read a gem’s emotions even when she wasn’t using her powers to actively change them.

Blue’s eyes told White she thought the gem in front of them was being sincere.

“Why are you telling us all of this?” White asked.

“Because I am tired of just watching as the Authority steps on every gem below them and not being able to do anything. I am willing to do whatever it takes to fix things, and I think you three could help me.”

* * *

Steven lied on the sand, his fingers idly following the triangular patterns on his gem. He knew every corner and every line, of course, like he knew any part of his body.

He thought he had known Pink Diamond as well as he knew the diamond on his stomach. She was a part of him after all, the part that fought and cured, and sometimes he was unsure of where she ended and he started.

He had been wrong.

Someone sat down beside him, but Steven didn’t raise his head to look at them. He didn’t want to talk to them yet.

“Pretending something isn’t there won’t make it go away,” White said. “I know it. I’ve tried it.”

“Don’t. Don’t you dare read my mind right now.” Steven said, impatient.

“I won’t,” White said. “I just guessed you may want to pretend you didn’t learn what you just did about your mother.”

“You were the ones that kept it from me for fourteen years.” He pointed.

“We thought it was the right choice. Pink wouldn’t have wanted you to know this side of her.”

“You let me believe she had shattered someone!” Steven groaned. “I gave myself up to Homeworld because of it!”

“And that’s when we realized our mistake.”

Steven sighed. He was not going to cry in front of White, not right now.

“Why? Why pretend Rose Quartz was shattered? Why not tell the truth?”

He wasn’t referring just to himself. White knew it.

“We thought that sent a stronger message. That it made us look stronger. Pink believed that would make the Authority take us seriously enough to negotiate with us.”

“She was wrong.”

“She was.” White shook her head. "We all were. It didn’t matter much when the Authority gave their final attack and disabled the galaxy warp. We were stuck here, just the four of us, and it was easy to believe the past didn’t matter.

“Pink was much older than any of us, and naturally she was the one with a heavier burden. We spent centuries trying to help her let go. Blue took it the most literally.”

Steven thought back to the day he visited Blue’s room.

_“Pink was haunted by so many things from her past. I just wanted to give her peace, even if just for a moment.”_

“Nothing ever fully worked.” White continued. “She couldn’t forget. We thought it would be better if you never learned of any of this at all.”

“I am not a baby.” Steven covered his eyes with his arm. “I can take the truth.”

“You are much stronger than we give you credit for.” White agreed. “I’m sorry for how things turned out. These were never supposed to be your problems.”

Steven was silent for a moment, thinking. “What are we going to do now?”

“What do you mean?”

“We can’t let the Crystal Authority destroy Earth because of Rose!” He paused. “We have to tell them the truth.”

“Do you think that would help us?”

“Well, lying didn’t do much.” He smiled bitterly.

“It may be worth a try. But on one condition.”

“Hm?”

“You won’t try to face them alone.”

Part of Steven - the part of him that wasn’t his mother, he was sure - wanted to agree immediately. The part that didn’t want to meet Pearl and Amethyst again so soon, or ever. He wasn’t proud of this part.

“Steven, please.” White insisted. “We are in this together.”

He remembered Connie and how disappointed she was when he gave himself up.

“I won’t do it again.”

White nodded. “Are you still mad at us?”

He was.

“It’s fine.” He said instead. “Are you still hiding anything from me?”

“Nothing major. You can ask anything you want to.”

“Maybe later.” Steven finally turned around so he was lying facing White. She was serious. Tense. Worried.

“We can win this, right?” He asked.

White smiled.

“I like to believe we can.”

* * *

“Even if we join this ‘rebellion’, none of us are fighters,” White said, skeptical. “Do you really believe we can fix Homeworld?”

“I like to believe we can.”

**Author's Note:**

> Phew, I have been waiting for so long to write and post this! I had many possibilities of how to do this reveal, it was going to take a bit longer but in the end I decided to just say it at once.
> 
> Spinel and the Pebble from “The Lonely Leader” are going to show up again and have bigger roles. They were going to be in this story but I think the way it turned out is better.
> 
> The idea for Pink’s transformation into Rose is that she turns her gem so only a small part of it is visible, enough to keep her secret. Since Pink is natural, her gem doesn’t have smooth facets like the other Diamonds’, it has a more rough look. The same is true for all other natural gems that have or will show up.


End file.
